Editor's note: We recently welcomed Naomi Hartman to the Denver Institute team as our Public Engagement Associate. Naomi and I talked about her prior work and what she’s most excited about at Denver Institute. Our conversation below has been lightly edited for length and clarity. How did you first connect with Denver Institute? Naomi: ​​I first connected with Denver Institute at a time in my career when I was looking for change but wasn’t sure what direction to go. I had done a little bit of a lot of things in my work and was struggling with what to do with the gifts and passions God ha ..read more

At Denver Institute, we strive toward a future where every person’s work brings hope and life to their city. But we recognize that the places where we live and work can be extremely pluralistic and polarized. This is especially true of our political climate over the past 20 years, where Christans are often seen as a political problem rather than a source of progress and loving solutions. If we are to be people committed to the Gospel, to our places, and to faithful civic presence, we’ll need to navigate the thorny path framed by extreme Left and extreme Right political ideologies. And we’ll ..read more

Clara Brown's life story is deeply interwoven with her steadfast Christian faith, a faith which guided her every action and became the cornerstone of her remarkable journey. The centrality of her faith is embodied in her quote, “I only do what Jesus tells me to.”  As Clara navigated the opportunities of entrepreneurship, she leaned into the opportunity to serve others. Clara exemplified the Christian virtues through her ceaseless acts of kindness. Even when faced with personal losses and the erosion of her hard-earned fortunes, Clara's reliance on her faith remained unshaken ..read more

Is there hope for housing? What is behind this question and why would Denver Institute for Faith and Work be dealing with housing? In our FOR Campaign–a five-year strategic plan we began this year–we are identifying three significant civic issues that we want to help impact over the next five years. Housing affordability will be one of them, for several reasons: It is one of the primary civic issues impacting the Denver-Boulder Metro areas, primarily affecting the working poor and the shrinking middle class. Listening to business leaders, we've repeatedly heard that housing costs–both re ..read more

Have you ever gotten to the end of the day, looked at your to-do list, and realized you may have been more than a little optimistic when you wrote it that morning? Where does the time go? Why is it so hard to actually get things done?  I recently listened to the Freakonomics podcast episode titled “Here’s Why All Your Projects Are Always Late–and What to Do About It.” This is an episode they could release on a monthly basis without it losing relevance. The conversation centers on the to-do list dilemma I mentioned above, the fact that we think we can do more in less time than we actually ..read more

Written by David Spickard, Founder & CEO of 11 Ten Leadership Overview Paul’s company specializes in the acquisition of high end multifamily housing communities. Having developed and reinvigorated over 30,000 units since 2009, his company provides a wide selection of properties for its residents that result in a positive return for its investors. Recently, one of the company’s Class A residential properties found itself in the crosshairs of the growing call for justice in our cities. The city where the property is located proposed to establish a “Black Lives Matter” mural in a prominen ..read more

Overview Many today are experiencing social isolation, deep anxieties about the future, and various difficulties in the workplace. For too many of us, work seems tedious, painful, or meaningless. And we don't know what to do about it. Working from the Inside Out pulls back the veil on the deep emotional and vocational challenges faced by the majority of workers and shows how work can become a way to love God, serve our neighbors, and demonstrate the gospel to the world. Bringing together emotional, relational, vocational, intellectual, and civic health through the seamless thread of vocation ..read more

Ask most Coloradans what Labor Day means to them, and they’d talk about the summer’s “last hurrah” of the three-day weekend. It’s the second bookend framing of the unofficial summer season, running from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Tube Boulder Creek, camp in Summit County, fly fish the Tarryall, or hammock in the backyard - just get it in before the pleasure season sunsets.  Origins of Labor Day But the 19th-century roots of Labor Day were far from leisurely. Industrialization was changing workplace conditions and accelerating the production economy. Workers were treated like cogs in a ..read more

A banker, a teacher, and a pastor walk into a bar to share a conversation about the most important Rule in their life...  But there’s no punchline coming next…that was an actual conversation. Last month, I got to lead three gatherings to help professionals craft a personal Rule of Life. We retreated into the mountains over a good meal and a glass of wine (not technically a bar) to be reflective and share important conversations about our lives.  Life is Liturgical The banker, teacher, and pastor share something in common: their life is built upon routines and habits that form who ..read more

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.1 The Lord’s Prayer is familiar. Sometimes so familiar we can lose sight of its power to transform thoughts, actions, and the posture of our hearts. Sometimes so familiar that we don’t consider the way it could change the way we show u ..read more